Democracy's Edges

Democracy's Edges analyzes one of democracy's most enduring problems: how to establish the boundaries of democratic polities.

Ian Shapiro (Edited by), Casiano Hacker-Cordón (Edited by)

9780521643894, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 19 August 1999

312 pages, 2 maps 1 table
22.8 x 15.3 x 2 cm, 0.46 kg

'This is an excellent collection by leading political theorists on the prospects for democracy given the challenges to the standard boundaries of democratic societies - the challenge to 'outer edges' by processes of globalisation and the challenge to 'inner edges' by processes of pluralisation … I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the future of democracy.' James Tully, University of Victoria

Democracy has been a flawed hegemony since the fall of communism. Its flexibility, its commitment to equality of representation, and its recognition of the legitimacy of opposition politics, are all positive features for political institutions. But democracy has many deficiencies: it is all too easily held hostage by powerful interests; it often fails to advance social justice; and it does not cope well with a number of features of the political landscape, such as political identities, boundary disputes, and environmental crises. Although democracy is valuable it fits uneasily with many other political values and is in many respects less than equal to the demands it confronts. In this volume (and its companion, Democracy's Value) some of the world's most prominent political theorists and social scientists present original discussions of these urgently vexing subjects. Democracy's Edges analyses an enduring problem: how to establish the boundaries of democratic polities democratically.

1. Introduction Ian Shapiro and Casiano Hacker-Cordón
Part I: 2. Can international organizations be democratic? A skeptic's view Robert A. Dahl
3. A comment on Dahl's skepticism James Tobin
4. The democratic order, economic globalization and ecological restrictions - on the relation of material and formal democracy Elman Altvater
5. Democracy and collective bads Russell Hardin
6. The transformation of political community: rethinking democracy in the context of globalization David Held
7. Citizenship in an era of globalization Will Kymlicka
8. Comment on Held's cosmopolitanism Alexander Wendt
9. Feminist social criticism and the international movement for women's rights as human rights Brooke A. Ackerly and Susan Moller-Okin
Part II: 10. Democratic liberty of the tyrannies of place Douglas Rae
11. Democracy and the politics of recognition Elizabeth Kiss
12. Group aspirations and democratic politics Ian Shapiro
13. American democracy and the new Christian right: a critique of apolitical liberalism Jeffrey C. Isaac, Matthew Filner and Jason Bivins
13. Between liberalism and a hard place Courtney Jung
Rationality: democracy and leaky boundaries: vertical v. horizontal modularity Susan Hurley.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA]